SPRINGFIELD -- Eugene Robinson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post, will deliver the keynote address at the at the Springfield Regional Chamber's Outlook 2017 luncheon on April 10.

Robinson is also a political commentator appearing on television programs such as political commentator on news programs such as MSNBC's Hardball, The Rachel Maddow Show, and NBC's Meet the Press.

Eugene Robinsonphoto provided

The lunch, an annual affair meant to take a look at he political and economic year ahead, will be from from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 10 at the MassMutual Center, 1277 Main St., Springfield.

Tickets are $50 for Springfield Regional Chamber members as well as ERC5 members and $75 for general admission. Reserved tables of ten are available. Reservations must be made by March 29, 2017 and may be made online at www.springfieldregionalchamber.com or by emailing events@springfieldregionalchamber.com. No walk-ins will be accepted and no cancellations will be accepted once the reservation deadline has passed, according to the news release.

The Outlook luncheon is presented by Health New England and sponsored by Eastern States Exposition; Eversource; MassMutual Financial Group; and United Personnel, with program/reception sponsors Comcast, Mercy Medical Center, and The Republican, and support from BusinessWest.

The Springfield Regional Chamber expects more than 700 guests. The chamber does outlook each year in cooperation with the East of the River Five Town Chamber of Commerce.

U.s. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, is also scheduled to speak at the event.

"Today's News: Who's Up, Down and What's Really Going On" will be the topic of Robinson's talk.

According to the release:

"In his twice-weekly column in The Washington Post, Robinson picks American society apart and then puts it back together again in unexpected and revelatory new ways. His remarkable story-telling ability has won him wide acclaim, most notably as the winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for his commentary on the 2008 presidential race."

Robinson began his career at The San Francisco Chronicle, where he was one of two reporters assigned to cover the trial of kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst.

He joined The Washington Post in 1980 and has served as city hall reporter, covering the first term of Washington's larger-than-life mayor Marion Barry, foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires and London, foreign editor, and assistant managing editor of The Post, in charge of its award-winning Style section.

He was a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pulitzer Prize Board, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the NABJ Hall of Fame. He is the author of three books: Coal to Cream: A Black Man's Journey Beyond Color to an Affirmation of Race; Last Dance in Havana: The Final Days of Fidel and the Start of the New Cuban Revolution; and his latest, Disintegration.